Family-friendly: | 5/5 |
Exercise needs: | 5/5 |
Easy to train: | 4/5 |
Tolerates being alone: | 3/5 |
Likes other pets: | 4/5 |
Energy level: | 5/5 |
Grooming needs: | 4/5 |
Shedding: | 2/5 |
- Dogs suitable for experienced owners
- Extra training required
- Generally healthy breed
- Enjoys vigorous walks
- Enjoys more than two hours of walking a day
- Large dog
- Minimum drool
- Requires grooming once a week
- Quiet dog
- Welcomes everyone happily
- Could have issues with unknown dogs but gets along with known dogs
- Gets along with other pets with training
- Great family dog
- Needs a large garden
- Best suited to countryside
- Can be left occasionally with training
German Longhaired Pointers can suffer from:
- Hip dysplasia
Priority Kennel Club health schemes and testing:
None but there are several recommended schemes that the Kennel Club recommends which can be found here.
Personality
Powerful and intense, the German Longhaired Pointer retains the working instinct and ability they were bred for. They naturally want to range ahead of and to the side of a handler when walking off lead and will actively look for game. They are capable of making independent decisions quickly if their owner is not ready to tell them what to do, so owners need to understand this 24/7 working nature and be ready to supply instruction. These are ‘people’ dogs in the sense that they want to work together with their person as a team, but this doesn’t mean you won’t have to work at building a relationship with your dog! Considered the ‘Ferrari’ of the gundog world, they are quick, keen and have incredible stamina, and should be considered dogs who need a job.
Did You Know?
- The German Longhaired Pointer only comes in brown and white, in a variety of coat patterns. Black is not permitted, but because black and white puppies did occur in early litters, these were eventually selectively bred and became another HPR breed - the Munsterlander!
- There are three kinds of German Pointer, the Longhaired, the Shorthaired and the Wirehaired. Although they sound like the same breed in three kinds of coat, there are differences between the breeds both physically and behaviourally. The German Longhaired Pointer is the rarest of the three.
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